Hi JerryM,
possibly too rich and expensive tasting as you say.
Are you thinking of simplifying your base recipes now?
Cheers,
PaulP,
the real BIR base does taste very different to all the bases i've made. the made bases do taste too rich and expensive.
it has crossed my mind to try and work on the base more to get closer. the trouble is i don't feel it's what will close my gap. the trouble is i find it very difficult to describe what that gap is. i do feel i'm very close. to the extent that it can only be in the final recipe.
why i say this is that some dishes taste spot on ie admin's jalfrezi, ashoka bhuna korahi, 976bar kashmiri, bitchinsahsa butter chicken. they make not be quite BIR but there as close as dam it.
on other recipes i struggle say madras. what i don't know is if these challenge the base more or i just don't have a good enough "close enough" recipe. i think it's the later.
i intend to work on these recipes ie madras, pathia, sylheti, rogan josh a bit for a while. as u say some experimenting on spice mix amounts. i also think i'm not bringing the full compliment of ingredients into play and need to work on this more. i've just reduced my std amount of spice mix from 2 tsp per 300ml portion down to 1 tsp and find this is taking me in the right direction as an example (the thought came from CK's madras for example).
i don't see the scaling as a problem. only the need to be aware that base and curry need matching to a certain extent at frying stage ie base with more tomato use less paste at cooking etc.